I went. I ate. I bought.

This year’s artists have lots of different stuff — something we didn’t always seen in the past. There’s more jewelry than one woman could wear in a lifetime and some things I haven’t seen anywhere. Steve Tomashek has done miniature carvings, then photographed them in clever settings (so, if you can’t afford the carvings, you can at least buy the cards). He won best in show honors and it’s well deserved.

Also, Sioux City’s Ken Peterson has some cool wood carvings that can be stacked and turned into your own brand of sculpture.

Several of the paintings caught my eye, too, and, for the third year, I’ve laughed at the bowls that have very truthful sayings on them. I wish I remembered the artists who did them but, trust me, when you come by the bowls, stop, read, buy. They’re great — and ideal gifts. I always assume they’d make great M&M bowls, but that’s my way of thinking (if you can put M&M’s in them, they’re perfect).

The food is plentiful this year, too, and there are some new offerings. The gyros had a huge line; the strawberry smoothies were worth trying. I’m always keen on the hot dogs (Hot Diggity Dog…trust me) and I wasn’t disappointed.

Tonight, I’ll consider all the things I didn’t get and see if I can make a return trip tomorrow. Trust me. It’s worth the visit.

Good idea putting the last night of the convention in Mile High Stadium. It looked like the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

Barack Obama was pretty forceful with his attacks and he made some strong points about patriotism and the value of differences. He had a bracelet on, however, that I’d love to know what it said.

Looking out into the crowd, you could see Guam delegates got good seats and just about everyone who was a delegate visited the Democratic Gift Shop.

Celebs like Sheryl Crow turned up as well. (The VIP tent must have been full.) But, again, where was  Oprah?

And what will happen next week at the Republican Convention? I can hardly wait.

I hope someone thinks of renting a stadium there, too.

Bruce Miller reviews Hamlet 2, Disaster Movie, College, and Babylon AD.

The big winner Wednesday night wasn’t Sen. Joe Biden but his son Beau. The Delaware attorney general got eyes tearing when he talked about his family “marrying” Jill, his dad’s decision to turn down a Senate seat after his wife and children were in a car accident and Beau’s upcoming stint in Iraq. Future national politician? You bet.

Dad, by the way, got the official nod for the ticket… and when he came out it was pretty clear he’d had some work done. (Remember when John Kerry looked “younger” during his bid? Botox.) Joe sorta looked like Spiro Agnew. (Anyone? Remember?)

Bill Clinton couldn’t have said more to indicate he, Hillary and Chelsea were behind the ticket. And Horatio Sanz  Bill Richardson said he was still in the dog house with Bill for stepping out early and supporting Obama.

Quick notes: Joe Biden’s mom looks like a cross between Lillian Carter and Barbara Bush.

And Michelle Obama has officially become the designated crier for the party.

Barack Obama showed up at the end of the speeches, got ‘em fired up a little more and invited everyone to his pep rally tomorrow at Mile High Stadium.

Will they be serving hot dogs? Then, save me a seat. The cable went out repeatedly Wednesday night.

First things first: Hillary Clinton’s orange suit looked great. Against the blue background, she really stood out AND she delivered a speech that showed how natural she can be. Too often during the campaign she sounded rehearsed. Tuesday night  she seemed natural and even mentioned a woman she had met in Iowa, so that was good.

Michelle Obama, meanwhile, looked like a  Miss America contestant who was about to play a piano solo for her talent competition. She seemed to be sitting at the edge of her seat and was anxious to hear what Hil was going to say.

Bill teared up a couple of times and mouthed “I love you” to Hillary. He needed to do that a long time ago. But you could see his — and Chelsea’s — pride.

On the television front, Katie Couric had some weird problem with her mascara. Her team, though, had a better shot at the news stories (if there were any) and she even tossed to the podium where it looked like Ann Curry (her old “Today” friend) was trying to steal a potential guest.

ABC’s crew did too much analyzing (but it was interesting to hear George Stephanopoulos call Hillary a “loser”).

And NBC finally got its high-def cameras.

Tomorrow: Bill gets to speak. Hillary gets to wear another pant suit and the word “unity” will be on more posters than “union made.”

I dare you to do more than I did last weekend at the lakes.

In addition to sleeping late every day (whoo-hoo!) I got to go on a tour of homes, eat like a pig, shop, go boating, stare at the sky, visit, eat, go to the movies (where they handed out spaghetti sauce — no kidding), eat spaghetti sauce, walk, eat, walk, eat, rest, watch Olympics, watch sailing, sunbathe, rest, eat, eat, eat, shop, visit, look at the sky, eat, visualize what a remodeling project might look like, talk, eat, walk, shop and, oh yeah, eat some more.

The secret? You gotta know the right people.

Boy have they whittled back on the coverage. Back in the day you’d see plenty of stuff about delegates, caucuses and closed-door meetings. Now, it’s just a photo op.

NBC must have left its high-def cameras in Beijing because it didn’t have the visual quality of ABC or CBS. The network also had to settle for seconds on an interview with Caroline Kennedy… and Brian Williams  didn’t have the edge of Diane Sawyer. She asked plenty of probing questions (particularly about Uncle Teddy, who came from the hospital to speak) and wasn’t going to settle for a guest appearance. Brian, meanwhile, phoned it in, using some goofy Madonna-like headset.

Michelle Obama was the featured speaker (behind some ominous screens that put the speaker’s name bigger than the Hollywood sign) and did a good job backgrounding her husband. I wanted to see Oprah in the audience (maybe she’s waiting for Thursday) but they flashed so often to Joe Biden I almost wondered if he was getting paid for his new DaVinci veneers. He smiled a lot.

Meanwhile, Maria Shriver was in the audience (What? Two conventions in one year? You know Ah-nold is bringing her to the Republican one), dabbing tears when Uncle Teddy spoke.

Instead of waiting for Caroline, NBC should have rushed Maria. They used to employ her; she kinda owed them.

Still, if this is just going to be the 9 o’clock update, we’ll never get to see all those celebrities who come out to sing and support the party (ditto for the Republicans).

First night out: ABC wins the coverage battle (in spite of a bad shot of Charlie Gibson looking down at his desk during the Obama speech). NBC has too many correspondents in the crowd for an hour broadcast. Poor Ann Curry should have gotten some time off from the Olympics.

Guess who’s “Dancing with the Stars” this year?

Misty May-Treanor, hot off her gold-medal win for beach volleyball.

Also in the mix: Kim Kardashian, Lance Bass, Toni Braxton, Susan Lucci, Warren Sapp, Cloris Leachman, Rocco DiSpirito, Cody Linley, Brooke Burke, Jeffrey Ross, Maurice Greene and Ted McGinley.
Whenever McGinley appears on a series, it “jumps the shark” (see: “Happy Days”). Could that be the case here? Good news for Priscilla Presley. With Leachman among the mix, she’s no longer the oldest contestant ever.

They’re over.

And the good news? Cirque du Soleil won’t be hurting for performers. The closing ceremonies featured so many acrobats you can almost bet there will be Cirque du China any day now.

Over the weekend, the Redeem Team got bling; Usain Bolt did a little hotdogging (thank god) and U.S. runners found their groove.

The final show was a bit of a mishmash (Jackie Chan and David Beckham?); but somebody really screwed up by putting Michael Phelps at some pep rally in London when he should have been glowing as brightly as the torch in Beijing.

While there are still scores to be settled (are we really happy with the Chinese gymnasts getting those golds?), it was a fun two weeks. Two sleepless weeks.

We got to know Debbie Phelps.

We came to love Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin.

We embraced Usain Bolt.

Now, it’s time for the endorsement deals.

Nike. Speedo. General Mills. Toyota. Rolex. Coca-Cola.

Let the real games begin.